Four Quartets

Several significant events take place in the “Four Quartets” at the cusp of daybreak, suggesting that the transition between day and night is just as important as the events themselves. Throughout the poems, sunrise and nightfall, and the changing effects of the seasons all mark the passage of time. The speaker points out if day represents life and night represents death then humans have nothing to fear because day always follows night. The message is clear when the time is distinct, but liminal times are mysterious—at once ominous and beautiful.

According to the speaker of the poem, life can be understood as one lengthy liminal time transitioning humans from birth to death. Human focus on life is ironic as the two most impactful events are birth and death. The irrational nature of this idea is one of the many internal conflicts the speaker encourages himself and the reader to accept.

Sometimes, the liminal times of life contain further transition characterized by suffering and uncertainty. Life can involve injury and illness inviting death, as evidenced by the doctors and nurses of “East Coker” fighting to save lives. As patients and injured soldiers fall unconscious, they exist in another kind of liminal time, awaiting healing and renewal or the finality of death. The women who worry and wait for their mariners to come home from sea in “The Dry Salvages” are also forced into a kind of earthbound purgatory, waiting to discover if their loved ones are alive or dead.

Liminal periods carrying a more optimistic message in terms of the seasons are also present, as images of spring flowers emerge in the snow of winter; this draws attention to the strength of spring’s renewing energies. Elsewhere in nature, transition times take place in a flash, contrasting with the length of human life; in the rose garden of “Burnt Norton,” the lotus disappears as soon as it arrives, thanks to the changes of light altering the appearance of the pool. The emphasis on transitional time reveals that the power of the sun and the spring—symbolizing renewal and rebirth—is more powerful than the night, which symbolizes death and finality.